Book picks similar to
Hit Men: Power Brokers and Fast Money Inside the Music Business by Fredric Dannen
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I'm the Man: The Story of That Guy from Anthrax
Scott Ian - 2014
Through various lineup shifts, label snafus, rock 'n' roll mayhem, and unforeseen circumstances galore, Scott Ian has approached life and music with a smile, viewing the band with deadly seriousness while recognizing the ridiculousness of the entertainment industry. Always performing with abundant energy that revealed his passion for his craft, Ian has never let the gravity of being a rock star go to his shaven, goateed head.Ian tells his life story with a clear-eyed honesty that spares no one, least of all himself, starting with his upbringing as a nerdy Jewish boy in Queens and evolving through his first musical epiphany when he saw KISS live on television and realized what he wanted to do with his life. He chronicles his adolescence growing up in a dysfunctional home where the records blasting on his stereo failed to drown out the sound of his parents shouting at one another. He sets down the details of his fateful escape into the turbulent world of heavy metal. And of course he lays bare the complete history of Anthrax—from the band's formation to their present-day reinvigoration—as they wrote and recorded thrash classics like Spreading the Disease, Among the Living, and the top-twenty-charting State of Euphoria.Along the way, Ian recounts harrowing, hysterical tales from his long tour of duty in the world of hard rock. He witnesses the rise of Metallica, for which he had a front row seat. He parties with the late Dimebag Darrell while touring with Pantera and gets wild with Black Label Society frontman and longtime Ozzy Osbourne guitarist Zakk Wylde. He escapes detection while interviewing Ozzy for "The Rock Show" while dressed as Gene Simmons and avoids arrest after getting detained on suspicion of drugs while riding the tube in England with the late Metallica bassist Cliff Burton.In addition, I'm the Man addresses the trials and tribulations of Ian's life and loves. He admits his foibles and reveals the mistakes made along the way to becoming a fully-functioning adult. He celebrates finally finding peace and a true sense of family with his wife, singer/songwriter Pearl Aday, and examines how his world changed after the birth of their first son.I'm the Man is a blistering hard rock memoir, one that is astonishing in its candor and deftly told by the man who's kept the institution of Anthrax alive for more than thirty years.
Hershey: Milton S. Hershey's Extraordinary Life of Wealth, Empire, and Utopian Dreams
Michael D'Antonio - 2006
Hershey.The name Hershey evokes many things: chocolate bars, the company town in Pennsylvania, one of America’s most recognizable brands. But who was the man behind the name? In this compelling biography, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Michael D’Antonio gives us the real-life rags-to-riches story of Milton S. Hershey, a largely uneducated businessman whose idealistic sense of purpose created an immense financial empire, a town, and a legacy that lasts to this day. Hershey, the son of a minister’s daughter and an irresponsible father who deserted the family, began his career inauspiciously when the two candy shops he opened both went bankrupt. Undeterred, he started the Lancaster Caramel Company, which brought him success at last. Eventually he sold his caramel operation and went on to perfect the production process of chocolate to create a stable, consistent bar with a long shelf life...and an American icon was born. Hershey was more than a successful businessman—he was a progressive thinker who believed in capitalism as a means to higher goals. He built the world’s largest chocolate factory and a utopian village for his workers on a large tract of land in rural Pennsylvania, and used his own fortune to keep his workers employed during the Great Depression. In addition, he secretly willed his fortune to a boys’ school and orphanage, both of which now control a vast endowment.
Deconstructing Sammy
Matt Birkbeck - 2008
lived a storied life. Adored by millions over a six-decade-long career, he was considered an entertainment icon and a national treasure. But despite lifetime earnings that topped $50 million, Sammy died in 1990 near bankruptcy. His estate was declared insolvent, and there was no possibility of itever using Sammy's name or likeness again. It was as if Sammy had never existed. Years later his wife, Altovise, a once-vivacious woman and heir to one of the greatest entertainment legacies of the twentieth century, was living in poverty, and with nowhere else to go, she turned to a former federal prosecutor, Albert "Sonny" Murray, to make one last attempt to resolve Sammy's debts, restore his estate, and revive his legacy. For seven years Sonny probed Sammy's life to understand how someone of great notoriety and wealth could have lost everything, and in the process he came to understand Sammy as a man whose complexity makes for a riveting work of celebrity biography as cultural history.Matt Birkbeck's serious work of investigative journalism unveils the extraordinary story of an international celebrity at the center of a confluence of entertainment, politics, and organized crime, and shows how even Sammy's outsized talent couldn't save him from himself.
Peter Grant: The Man Who Led Zeppelin
Chris Welch - 2001
The book reveals the facts about his suspended prison sentence, his dispute with the group over unpaid royalties and his retiring from the music industry, and his rumoured heroin addiction.Written with the full co-operation of Grant's family and friends to give a unique access into the most fabled and feared man in the music business.
Moonage Daydream: The Life & Times of Ziggy Stardust
David Bowie - 2002
Moonage Daydream is the most complete, detailed exploration of one of rock 'n' roll's greatest creations: Ziggy Stardust.Featuring more than 600 photographs from Mick Rock's vast archive, Moonage Daydream takes the reader from the early English Concerts where Ziggy and the Spiders from Mars made their names, to Ziggy's final swansong, the flamboyant 1980 Floor Show.Alongside Mick Rock's reflections on these incredible images, David Bowie adds his own thoughts: discussing Ziggy's origins ad giving an unprecedented insight into the stratospheric two-year career of his alter-ego.These include reflections on his collaboration with mime artist Lindsay Kemp; the breakthrough tour of the USA; the massive sell-out UK tour that culminated in Ziggy's official retirement; and the recording of Pin Ups in Paris.Mick Rock's camera caught more of the Ziggy legend than any other ad followed Bowie into hotel rooms and dressing rooms, on the road and socialising with musicians and friends including Lou Reed, Iggy Pop and Mick Jagger.Also included are formal studio sessions for the Pin Ups album sleeve and the four pioneering music videos that Mick directed and filmed for Bowie.
That Will Never Work: The Birth of Netflix and the Amazing Life of an Idea
Marc Randolph - 2019
Late fees were ubiquitous, video-streaming unheard was of, and widespread DVD adoption seemed about as imminent as flying cars. Indeed, these were the widely accepted laws of the land in 1997, when Marc Randolph had an idea. It was a simple thought—leveraging the internet to rent movies—and was just one of many more and far worse proposals, like personalized baseball bats and a shampoo delivery service, that Randolph would pitch to his business partner, Reed Hastings, on their commute to work each morning.But Hastings was intrigued, and the pair—with Hastings as the primary investor and Randolph as the CEO—founded a company. Now with over 150 million subscribers, Netflix's triumph feels inevitable, but the twenty first century's most disruptive start up began with few believers and calamity at every turn. From having to pitch his own mother on being an early investor, to the motel conference room that served as a first office, to server crashes on launch day, to the now-infamous meeting when Netflix brass pitched Blockbuster to acquire them, Marc Randolph's transformational journey exemplifies how anyone with grit, gut instincts, and determination can change the world—even with an idea that many think will never work.What emerges, though, isn't just the inside story of one of the world's most iconic companies. Full of counter-intuitive concepts and written in binge-worthy prose, it answers some of our most fundamental questions about taking that leap of faith in business or in life: How do you begin? How do you weather disappointment and failure? How do you deal with success? What even is success?From idea generation to team building to knowing when it's time to let go, That Will Never Work is not only the ultimate follow-your-dreams parable, but also one of the most dramatic and insightful entrepreneurial stories of our time.
Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung
Lester Bangs - 1987
Advertising in Rolling Stone and other major publications.
Evil Obsession the Annie Cook Story
Nellie Snyder Yost - 1991
Book by Yost, Nellie Snyder
All These Things That I've Done: My Insane, Improbable Rock Life
Matt Pinfield - 2016
He’s the guy who knows every song, artist, and musical riff ever recorded, down to the most obscure band’s B-side single on its vinyl-only EP import. As a child, music helped Pinfield make sense of the world. Later, as a teenager, Pinfield would approach his music idols after concerts and explain why he loved their music. As an adult, rock music inspired his career, fueled relationships, and, at times, became a life raft. In this expansive, no-holds-barred memoir Pinfield traces his lifelong music obsession—from the heavy metal that infused his teenage years, to his first encounters with legends like Lou Reed and The Ramones and how, through his post-MTV years, he played a major role in bringing nineties alt rock mainstream. Over his long career Pinfield has interviewed everyone from Paul McCartney to Nirvana to Jay-Z, earning the trust and admiration of artists and fans alike. Now, for the first time, Pinfield shares his five decades of stories from the front lines of rock and roll, exploring how, with nothing more than passion and moxy, he became a sought-after reporter, unlikely celebrity, and the last word in popular music. Featuring a rousing collection of best-of lists, favorite tracks, and artist profiles, All These Things That I’ve Done explains how a born outsider wound up in the inner circle.
Hollywood Babylon
Kenneth Anger - 1959
Originally published in Paris, this is a collection of Hollywood's darkest and best kept secrets from the pen of Kenneth Anger, a former child movie actor who grew up to become one of America's leading underground film-makers.
The Gross: The Hits, the Flops: The Summer That Ate Hollywood
Peter Bart - 1999
A backstage glimpse of the realities of the new Hollywood focuses on the film releases and strategies of the summer of 1998, showing why Godzilla was fated to fail and how Spielberg triumphed.
In Contempt
Christopher Darden - 1996
Simpson trial and shares the author's observations on legal strategy, racial issues, and the principal lawyers, officials, and witnesses involved in the case.
The Trouser Press Record Guide: The Ultimate Guide to Alternative Music
Ira A. RobbinsDavid Fricke - 1983
(1983) published as The Trouser Press Guide to New Wave Records.2nd Ed. (1985) published as The New Trouser Press Record Guide.3rd Ed. (1989) published as The New Trouser Press Record Guide (Revised Edition).4th Ed. (1991) published as The Trouser Press Record Guide: The Ultimate Guide to Alternative Music.5th Ed. (1997) published as The Trouser Press Guide to '90s Rock."The Trouser Press Record Guide" has been hailed by music fans and the record industry as "the bible" of nonmainstream rock, stretching across the stylistic boundaries of punk, grunge, indie-pop, techno, noise, avant-garde and ska into hip-hop, new country, metal, roots rocks, folk, modern dance and world music.All new and bigger than ever, "The Trouser Press Record Guide to '90's Rock" definitively covers 2,300 of this decade's most innovative and influential artists, reviewing 8,500 records -- insanely obscure and familiar alike -- from all over the world. Each insightful entry contains pungent critical analysis, biographical information and a complete album disography.Selected praise for "The Trouser Press Record Guide to '90's Rock""My trustworthy fact checker, be-all-and-end-all arguement settler and the last word on modern rock. I don't go on the air without it." -- Gary Cee, WLIR-FM"Still the most comprehensive guide through the labryrinth of indie and alternative rock. WHen you need a refresher course on all of Steve Albini's bands, or if you just want to know what Boy George did after Cultrue Club, this is the book to grab." -- David Browne, "Entertainment Weekly"
In the Court of King Crimson
Sid Smith - 2002
chart hit. The band followed it with 40 further albums of consistently challenging, distinctive and innovative music. Drawing on hours of new interviews, and encouraged by Crimson supremo Robert Fripp, the author traces the band’s turbulent history year by year, track by track.
Who Killed Little Johnny Gill?: A Victorian True Crime Murder Mystery
Kathryn McMaster - 2016
He's your son. You wave goodbye to him one morning as he disappears into the swirling fog. And then he is gone. Forever.
This gripping historical crime fiction novel, based on fact, is set in Bradford, England,1888. It explores the horrific murder of Johnny Gill; a murder and mutilation so gruesome, it stuns a nation. Even hardened detectives are affected by its savagery, swiftly comparing it to the work of Jack the Ripper. "Who Killed Little Johnny Gill?" is Kathryn McMaster's debut novel. It is a noir page-turner that immediately immerses you in a maelstrom of emotions, keeping you in suspense as Chief Detective Constable Withers and his dedicated team of British detectives try and gather sufficient evidence to bring a conviction against their suspect. In 1888, police procedures and knowledge of Forensic Science are rudimentary and juries are exposed to persuasive newspaper reports and public opinion. Will justice prevail, or will the guilty walk free? This is one crime fiction novel you won't be able to put down until the last page is turned!